A Campaign to Make Eugene and Springfield
Cities of Kindness

Our Purpose

The purpose of this campaign is for all citizens of Eugene-Springfield to benefit from greater kindness — at home, at work and as part of our community. We are trying to create a culture of kindness by giving greater visibility to the many acts of kindness that are already taking place in Eugene-Springfield, encouraging more acts of kindness (especially people volunteering for non-profits for the first time), engaging in more conversations about kindness, listening to what kindness means to all segments of our communities, recording a million acts of kindness, and celebrating our kindness accomplishments in November 2019. We are working with schools, faith-based organizations, businesses, neighborhood associations, non-profits, and governmental agencies to share and increase their kindness stories and accomplishments.

View a handout about our work here.

Who We Are

Steering Committee and their work groups:

Bruce Abel — Non-profits and Underrepresented Groups
Carmen Urbina — Government
Deb Jones — Neighborhood Associations and Crossing the Political Divide
Doug Carnine — Coordinator
LeeAnn Sheehan — Website
Linda Carnine — Underrepresented Groups and Service Clubs
Maggie Donahue —Schools
Matt Sprick — Businesses
Stan Paine — Springfield Schools and Organizations
Steve Christiansen — Communication Group
Tom English — Faith-based Organizations
Tom Maloney — 4J and Bethel Schools
Toni Daniels — Faith-based Organizations

Advisors: Bhavia Wagner, Dan Close, Dave Funk, Hugh Prichard, Marshall Peter.

Campaign Facilitator: Trisha Bates-Wickman

To ask questions and receive updates about the campaign, email spreadingkindness7@gmail.com. The campaign does not ask for donations or endorse political candidates.

Our Supporters

Spreading Kindness Campaign has support for making Eugene and Springfield Cities of Kindness from many local individuals and organizations. View the list here.

The Eugene-Springfield Cities of Kindness Month: November, 2019

Mayor Tom Tait of Anaheim — a leader of the cities of kindness movement — will give the keynote speech at our 2019 celebration on November 3rd, meet with small groups of leaders, and may speak to a school assembly. Tom was invited to meet with President Obama, the CARRI Institute funded by Homeland Security, the Surgeon General, and the Centers for Disease Control. Tom even spoke at an international conference on terrorism. Why? Creating a school culture of kindness makes violence and bullying socially unacceptable, which is why the Dalia Lama made so many visits to Anaheim. Headlines about Tom’s leadership in making Anaheim a city of kindness include “Anaheim mayor spends 3 days with Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu” and “How Lady Gaga, the Dalai Lama, and a Billionaire are Inspiring Cities to Cultivate a Culture of Kindness.” Another leader in Anaheim’s City of Kindness is Nathan Zug, pastor of Community Presence at Magnolia Baptist Church and an Anaheim Police Department chaplain.

Benefits of Increasing Kindness

Anaheim, California is a City of Kindness that has reported over one million acts of kindness in eight years. Anaheim has benefited from this focus with reductions in homelessness, crime, school bullying/violence, and gang membership, increased kindness initiatives by businesses, improved community policing including officers referring drug users to treatment rather than arresting them, and more.

Getting Started

In May 2018, 150 people gathered in Eugene to kick off the Spreading Kindness Campaign by discussing the transformational power of kindness and various ways of generating more kindness. One of the highlights of that event was a reading of the Peace Pledge that was written by students in Springfield, Oregon following a tragic school shooting. View a local news clip about the workshop here, or watch the full workshop here.

Our Spreading Kindness Campaign is currently focusing on helping Eugene and Springfield become “Cities of Kindness.” We are meeting with schools, city officials, business groups, faith based organizations, the county, non-profits, and under represented groups to discuss how we can increase kindness.

We also try to help people expand their own capacity for being kind with resources listed under “Personal Kindness.”

We invite you to help us spread kindness by exploring some of the options on this website under “Spread Kindness.” You could volunteer for one of the groups helping the homeless, put up a kindness yard sign, host a dinner party with a focused discussion on kindness, or share an inspiring act of kindness.